[More from BGR: ]

Well thanks, glasses, I never would have figured out that I was in the aquarium looking at jellyfish! Black quipped.

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Later, Black mocked a demonstration video of the new Kinect sensors capabilities and got particularly riled up when a Microsoft representative said that Kinect can look at microfluctuations in the blood underneath your skin and can zoom into your face to show if youre neutral or smiling. Black responded by making an obscene gesture at the camera and told Microsoft that there was no need to zoom in because Im telling you to f*** off!

The full video is posted below.

ASPEN, Colo. (AP) -- The image was chilling: Snowmobile rider Caleb Moore, launched over his handlebars on a backflip gone wrong, rolled down the landing hill with his 450-pound machine somersaulting behind him.

Run over by his sled, Moore lay on the snow for several minutes before being helped off the course. As of Wednesday, he was hospitalized in critical condition because of bleeding around his heart and a complication involving his brain.

Moore's was the worst accident at the Winter X Games, which wrapped up Sunday night after four days of competition, but it wasn't the only harrowing moment. The wipeouts included a runaway snowmobile that sent spectators scrambling.

Even the highlights were hardly tame. Snowboarding star Shaun White soared a competition record 24 feet into the air during the superpipe competition, and fellow boarder Elena Hight showed off a difficult trick called a"double alley-oop backside rodeo" that involved a couple of backflips and a 180-degree rotation. It had never been seen in a competition.

All that, plus Moore's crash, has some wondering whether dialing up the difficulty each year improves action sports or has simply made them too dangerous.

"Should we be asking these questions? We absolutely should be," said Dan Lebowitz, the executive director of Sport in Society at Northeastern University, which examines the role of sports to promote healthy development and social responsibility.

The people performing these superhuman feats "really are just human," he said. "How do we maintain safety in that progression when that progression sometimes pushes every envelope to some amazingly extreme point?"

Moore's injuries underscore the dangers at Winter X, which was filled with numerous cover-your-eyes crashes.

Halldor Helgason of Iceland over-rotated on a flip in the snowboard big air competition and had to be taken off on a sled with a concussion. Rose Battersby of New Zealand sustained a lumbar spine fracture in a wipeout during practice before the skiing slopestyle competition, which will be an Olympic sport next winter at the Sochi Games.

Then there was this: Summer X Games motocross champion turned snowmobile newcomer Jackson Strong tumbled off his machine during the best trick competition, the throttle sticking and the sled swerving toward fans as they scurried away. The machine came to a rest when it got tangled in some netting and no one was seriously hurt.

Such a scenario had already crossed the mind of Levi LaVallee, a snowmobiler who captured two gold medals only to be sidelined for the final two competitions after tearing a muscle in his back.

"I've always thought about, 'What happens if the thing tips over and the throttle sticks?'" LaVallee said. "It was good, though, because it showed that X Games has a good setup with the fencing."

Whether action sports are too dangerous is an issue that's been raised before.

When freestyle skier Sarah Burke died in a training accident a little more than a year ago in Park City, Utah, there were questions about the halfpipe. Before that, the sport was examined when snowboarder Kevin Pearce suffered a severe brain injury in a fall in the same pipe as Burke two years earlier. Pearce has recovered and served as an analyst at Winter X.

But in general, the athletes accept the risks and defend their disciplines.

"To lose Sarah was such a blow to this entire industry," said snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler, who didn't compete this year as she recovers from a serious eye injury she suffered in training. "This sport brings so much joy, happiness and balance to my life and that far outweighs what could happen. You can't ever live your life with what could happen."

In a statement, X Games officials said they've paid close attention to safety issues over the event's 18-year history: "We've worked closely with athletes, risk management specialists, sport organizers and event managers to present the best possible experience for athletes and spectators. Further measures are constantly being evaluated."

Athletes say they prepare as best they can by trying out new tricks into foam pits and air bags set up at the bottom of courses. But even all the caution in the world can't prevent the fact that sometimes well-practiced maneuvers can go wrong in the air.

"You don't want to live your life in fear because of a situation," LaVallee said. "Look, I'm driving down the road right now and the worst-case scenario is a car could swerve over into my lane and run over me there it is, end of the road.

"That's kind of the same thing we think when we're competing. Hopefully, the preparation and countless hours of training and practicing will prevent the worst-case scenario from happening."

Tucker Hibbert the Shaun White of snowmobiling after winning his sixth straight SnoCross title just hopes casual fans understand that what they see on television is not true snowmobiling.

"You're seeing the most extreme side of what we do," Hibbert said. "That's a lot different than what the average person does on a snowmobile."

Hibbert doesn't participate in events such as best trick because, "I just wasn't born with those skills. I sit back and watch those guys, enjoy what they do."

He paused.

"You just hate to see anyone crash, anyone get hurt," Hibbert said.

Moore was in the middle of an impressive run in the freestyle event when he caught the top of the hill that was serving as a landing area. He initially walked away with help and went to a hospital with a concussion.

Moore later developed bleeding around his heart and had surgery. His family said that Moore, of Krum, Texas, also had a complication involving his brain.

Colten Moore, Caleb's younger brother and defending champion in the event, separated his pelvis in a crash later that same night.

LaVallee is no stranger to horrific wipeouts.

While training for the "Red Bull: New Year. No Limits" daredevil series two years ago in Southern California, LaVallee lost control of his snowmobile high in the air and landed violently on his side, bouncing down the landing ramp. He broke ribs, cracked his pelvis, collapsed one lung and punctured the other.

But he returned the next year and jumped a record 412 feet, 6 inches.

"We're passionate about the sport that we're in," LaVallee said.

"Anyone who competes has that drive to succeed, to go bigger than the next person or be the first one to do it."

The mentality is similar throughout action sports, even if the bar keeps getting raised.

"There are going to be benchmarks set and people trying to exceed that benchmark," Lebowitz said. "That's just the essence of our society and our social culture."

DENVER (Reuters) - Crews battling a deadly wildfire that is the most destructive on record in Colorado have contained almost half of the 15,000-acre (6,070-hectare) blaze that has incinerated nearly 500 homes outside Colorado Springs, authorities said on Saturday.

Cooler temperatures, calmer winds and a rainstorm that moved over the burn area on Friday allowed fire managers to increase the containment of the fire to 45 percent from 30 percent the day before.

"Last night, there was no growth and no more structures lost," incident commander Rich Harvey of the U.S. Forest Service told a news conference.

But the number of homes confirmed destroyed by the so-called Black Forest Fire jumped to 473 overnight as assessment crews combed through areas that have cooled, El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa said.

Maketa said the bulk of the homes were lost in the first 24 hours of the blaze, and voiced optimism the threat from the fire was diminishing.

"I think we're getting the upper hand," Maketa said, adding that when he toured the area, it "looked like a nuclear bomb went off."

Fueled by tinder-dry vegetation and fanned by high winds, the blaze erupted on Tuesday in a wooded area northeast of Colorado Springs.

Flames roared out of control for two days, charring a 24-square-mile (62-square-km) swath through rolling hills on the outskirts of Colorado's second-largest city.

Two people were found dead inside the garage of a home that was reduced to ashes when flames ripped through the area.

The sheriff said the cause of the fire was under investigation, but he believed it was caused by humans, because there were no lightning strikes in the area that could have sparked the blaze.

At one point, some 38,000 people were under evacuation orders. But authorities have lifted evacuation orders in some areas as the threat of the fire spreading has eased.

Next week, some displaced residents will be allowed back into neighborhoods that have been deemed safe, police said. The sheriff's office said unauthorized people found in restricted areas would be criminally charged.

More than 1,000 local, state and federal firefighters are attacking the fire from the ground and air, Harvey said, and firefighting costs have exceeded $3.5 million.

(Reporting by Keith Coffman; Editing by Mary Wisniewski and Peter Cooney)

ARDMORE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Luke Donald finally got what he had asked for earlier this week as Merion Golf Club's East Course gave the players a brutal challenge in the weather-delayed U.S. Open second round on Friday.

Heavy rain during the championship build-up had initially left the par-70 layout too soft, in Donald's opinion, considerably lengthening the list of potential winners of the year's second major.

However, that changed dramatically on Friday as tugging breezes, tough pin positions, thick rough and firming conditions in bright afternoon sunshine combined to test the game's best players to the full.

"It was a shot or two harder," Donald told reporters after surviving a rollercoaster two-over-par 72 that included six bogeys and four birdies.

"This is a tough course and it's obviously showing that you don't need a course to be ultra long to make it difficult.

"U.S. Opens get harder as the week goes on and the pins today were a lot more tucked. They were tougher to get to. A few were on little hills or slopes. It's very difficult to make those putts when the ball is breaking so much."

On Tuesday, Donald rued the fact that the relatively short, 6,996-yard layout had become softened by more than five inches of rain over the previous four days.

"It makes the course a little bit easier," the English world number six said at the time. "It doesn't play quite as tough. As a top player you want the place to play as tough as it possibly can."

TEETH BARED

His prayers were answered on Friday, the course baring its teeth as the entire field struggled to shoot par.

"Merion is holding its own, for sure," said Donald, who shrugged off a run of five bogeys in six holes from the par-five second to post a level-par total of 140.

"I just feel like when you have wet conditions, the fairways become that much wider, the greens become wider, too. I just think it's going to help someone a little bit more because it's wet."

Asked what had mainly contributed to his stumbling run from the second hole, Donald replied: "Those were the par-fives, which I didn't play very well.

"The other bogeys I didn't feel like I made too many mistakes, it's just a difficult golf course, just a slight pull on five. But you try not to panic in U.S. Opens; you try to take each hole as it comes.

"I made nine birdies over the last couple of days, and I've certainly played the par-threes very well. I think I made four or five twos out there, it's obviously been a big key to my score."

Donald, who has yet to claim his first major title, likes his position going into the weekend as he contends for the major widely regarded as the most grueling to win.

"I would love to be a couple (of shots) better, but certainly I think come the end of round two, I'm going to be in a good place," said Donald, who stood three off the pace when he finished his round in the morning wave.

"I feel like I'm swinging pretty well and I've got a chance. So hopefully I can throw a good one in tomorrow and really be in the mix come Sunday."

(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes; Editing by Larry Fine)

ANKARA/BEIRUT (Reuters) - The United States is considering a no-fly zone in Syria as it weighs options for intervention into the 2-year-old civil war, Western diplomats said on Friday, after the White House said Syria had crossed a "red line" by using nerve gas.

After months of deliberation, President Barack Obama's administration said on Thursday it would now arm rebels, having obtained proof the Syrian government used chemical weapons against fighters trying to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.

Two senior Western diplomats said the United States was looking into a limited no-fly zone close to Syria's southern border with Jordan.

"Washington is considering a no-fly zone to help Assad's opponents," one diplomat said.

Imposing a no-fly zone could require the United States to destroy Syria's sophisticated Russian-built air defenses, thrusting it into the war with the sort of action NATO used to help topple Muammar Gaddafi in Libya two years ago.

Washington says it has not excluded a no fly zone but is also considering other options.

"We have been clear that we are not excluding options but at this stage no decision has been taken," said Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and Obama's incoming national security adviser.

"A no-fly zone ... would carry with it great and open-ended costs for the United States and the international community. It's far more complex to undertake the type of effort, for instance, in Syria than it was in Libya," U.S. deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said on Thursday.

Any such move would also come up against a potential veto from Assad ally Russia in the U.N. Security Council. The Kremlin dismissed U.S. evidence of Assad's use of nerve gas.

"I will say frankly that what was presented to us by the Americans does not look convincing," President Vladimir Putin's senior foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov said.

In a letter to the United Nations secretary general, Rice said the Syrian government had used chemical weapons in four attacks between March and May.

Rice provided the dates and locations for the attacks and said sarin was used in two of the attacks in areas close to Aleppo in March and April. Unspecified chemicals were used in the other attacks in May, she said.

The commander of Syria's main rebel fighting force urged Western allies to supply anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles and to create a no-fly zone, saying if properly armed he could defeat Assad's army within six months.

Free Syrian Army commander Salim Idriss told Reuters his forces urgently needed heavier weapons in the northern city of Aleppo, where Assad's government has said its troops are preparing a massive assault.

"If we have done the training ... and have enough weapons and ammunition I think it will be a matter of time, about six months, maybe less, maybe more, to collapse the regime."

France said a no-fly zone would be impossible without U.N. Security Council authorization, which made it unlikely for now.

Nevertheless, Washington has quietly taken steps that would make it easier, moving Patriot surface-to-air missiles, war planes and more than 4,000 troops into Jordan, officially as part of an annual exercise in the past week but making clear that the assets could stay on when the war games are over.

MOMENTUM TURNS

Syria's civil war grew out of protests that swept across the Arab world in 2011, becoming by far the deadliest of those uprisings and the most difficult to resolve, with powers across the Middle East squaring off on sectarian lines.

Western countries have spent the past two years demanding Assad leave power but declining to use force as they did in Libya, because of the far greater risk of fighting a much stronger country that straddles sectarian divides at the heart of the Middle East and is backed by Iran and Russia.

Just months ago, Western countries believed Assad's days were numbered. But momentum on the battlefield has turned in his favor, making the prospect of his swift removal and an end to the bloodshed appear remote without outside intervention.

Thousands of fighters from Lebanon's pro-Iranian Hezbollah militia have joined the war on Assad's behalf and last week helped the Syrian government recapture Qusair, a strategic town. Assad's government says its troops are now preparing for an assault on Aleppo, mainly in rebel hands since last year.

Activists reported an intensified assault on parts of Aleppo and its countryside near the Turkish border overnight, sparking some of the most violent clashes in months.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the guerrilla group would not be shaken in its support for Assad: "Wherever we need to be, we will be."

The arrival of Shi'ite Hezbollah in the war on behalf of Assad, a member of the Shi'ite offshoot Alawite sect, has exacerbated the war's dangerous sectarian overtones across the tumultuous region. Egypt's ruling Muslim Brotherhood backed a call by Sunni clerics for holy war.

OBAMA'S CALCULUS

The use of chemical weapons provides a straightforward reason for Washington to intervene. Deputy national security adviser Rhodes said Washington now believed 100 to 150 people had been killed by government poison gas attacks on rebels.

"The president ... has made it clear that the use of chemical weapons or transfer of chemical weapons to terrorist groups is a red line," he said. "He has said that the use of chemical weapons would change his calculus, and it has."

Syria, which says rebels used chemical weapons not the government, said the U.S. statement was full of lies.

"The White House ... relied on fabricated information in order to hold the Syrian government responsible for using these weapons, despite a series of statements that confirmed that terrorist groups in Syria have chemical weapons," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

An implicit threat to join the conflict puts Washington on a diplomatic collision course with Moscow, which has used its U.N. Security Council veto three times to block resolutions that might be used to threaten force against Assad.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said U.S. military support for rebel forces in Syria risked escalating violence in the Middle East.

U.S. officials say Obama will try to persuade Putin to abandon support for Assad when the two leaders meet at a G8 summit in Northern Ireland next week.

Washington and Moscow have called for a peace conference in Geneva, the first attempt in a year by the Cold War foes to find a diplomatic solution to the war, but prospects for the talks even being held on time next month now seem dubious.

The United Nations now estimates at least 93,000 people have been killed in Syria and millions driven from their homes.

Western powers have been reluctant in the past to arm the rebels, worried about the rising strength of Sunni Islamist insurgents who have pledged loyalty to al Qaeda.

The White House said Washington would now provide "direct military support" to the opposition. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed it would now include arms as opposed to "non-lethal" aid sent in the past.

Syrian rebels already receive light arms from Saudi Arabia and Qatar. They have asked for heavier weapons including anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Islamist rebel fighters in Syria were skeptical about the U.S. move. "We consider America an enemy and see it as quite unlikely that it will actually give the mujahideen weapons," Abu Bilal, a Sunni insurgent in Homs, told Reuters via Skype.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said increasing the flow of arms to either side "would not be helpful."

(Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris, Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman, Matt Spetalnick, Roberta Rampton, Mark Felsenthal, Jeff Mason, Susan Heavey and Rachelle Younglai in Washington, Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Giles Elgood and Doina Chiacu)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Actress Jean Stapleton, best known for her Emmy-winning role as the good-hearted housewife Edith Bunker in the groundbreaking 1970s television comedy "All in the Family," has died at age 90, her family said on Saturday.

Stapleton died on Friday of natural causes at her home in New York City, her son, film and television director John Putch, said in a statement.

"It is with great love and heavy hearts that we say farewell to our collective Mother, with a capital M," Putch and his sister, Pamela Putch, said in a joint statement. "Her devotion to her craft and her family taught us all great life lessons."

The actress won three Emmys, U.S. TV's highest honor, for her role as Edith, the long-suffering, unsophisticated but understanding wife of the reactionary and often racist Archie Bunker, played by the late Carroll O'Connor, in the hit TV sitcom.

"All in the Family," inspired by the British program "Till Death Us Do Part," was a success with audiences even as it helped usher in a new era for U.S. television by confronting contentious topics such as racism, the Vietnam War and the feminist movement.

Archie, a working-class New Yorker, often clashed over politics and social issues with his adult daughter, Gloria, and his liberal son-in-law, Michael Stivic, whom he called "Meathead."

Edith spoke in a nasal, high-pitched voice, and seemed confused at times by the social changes going on around her. Her gentle nature contrasted with her husband's mean streak. Although Archie often called her a "dingbat," she patiently stood by him.

In a nod to the generational conflict on display in the show, the program, aired on CBS, began with Archie and Edith at a piano singing the nostalgic "Those Were the Days."

"No one gave more profound 'How to be a Human Being' lessons than Jean Stapleton," Norman Lear, the producer of "All in the Family," said in a written statement released to Reuters.

Film director Rob Reiner, who played Edith's son-in-law, said in a statement to CBS News that Stapleton was "a brilliant comedienne with exquisite timing."

Stapleton appeared in "All in the Family" from 1971 to 1979, and continued her role for a time in the 1979 spinoff show "Archie Bunker's Place."

MAKING EDITH FUNNY

Stapleton was born Jeanne Murray in New York in 1923 to an opera singer mother and a businessman father. She would later use her mother's maiden name, Stapleton, as her stage name.

She worked during World War Two as a typist for the British War Ministry Office in New York and made her professional stage debut in 1941. In the 1950s and 1960s, she acted in a number of Broadway productions, including a part in "Damn Yankees" that got Lear's attention and her role in "All in the Family."

Sitting alongside O'Connor for a 2000 interview on the talk show "Donny & Marie," Stapleton said she developed her nasal voice to play an oddball in "Damn Yankees" and decided to use it again in "All in the Family," after behind-the-scenes work that saw Edith go from abrasive to daffy.

"As we developed and found the characters, which was in the rehearsal process and which was very stimulating, very exciting and a learning process, as these elements came to us, something else developed," Stapleton said. "And one was, I think I'll use that nasal voice because it's funny."

O'Connor, who died in 2001, said in the same interview that if Stapleton had followed the British version of the show and played Edith as sharp-tongued, the program would have been less successful. "She had to be what she created in order to make Archie work," he said.

After "All in the Family," Stapleton played former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt in a 1982 television movie, and had a supporting role in the 1998 romantic comedy "You've Got Mail."

She maintained a lifelong love of the theater, and in 1990, received the Village Voice newspaper's Obie Award for her performances in Harold Pinter's Off-Broadway plays "Mountain Language" and "The Birthday Party."

She spent a number of years living and working in Los Angeles, but returned to her native New York in 2002 to live permanently.

Stapleton is survived by her son and daughter. Her husband, William Putch, died in 1983.

(Writing and additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Peter Cooney)

The prestigious Institute of Medicine is recommending that schools provide opportunities for at least 60 minutes of physical activity each day for students and that PE become a core subject.

The report, released Thursday, says only about half of the nation's youngsters are getting at least an hour of vigorous or moderate-intensity physical activity every day.

Another concern, the report says, is that 44 percent of school administrators report slashing big chunks of time from physical education, arts and recess since the passage of the No Child Left Behind law in 2001 in order to boost classroom time for reading and math.

With childhood obesity on the rise about 17 percent of children ages 2 through 19 are obese and kids spending much of the day in the classroom, the chairman of the committee that wrote the report said schools are the best place to help shape up the nation's children.

"Schools for years have been responsible for various health programs such as nutrition, breakfast and lunch, immunizations, screenings," Harold W. Kohl III, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Texas School of Public Health, said in an interview with The Associated Press.

"Physical activity should be placed alongside those programs to make it a priority for us as a society," he said.

The report calls on the Education Department to recommend that PE be adopted as a core subject.

It says physical education in school is the "only sure opportunity" for youngsters to have access to activity that will help keep them healthy.

The majority of states, about 75 percent, mandate PE, according to the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance. But most do not require a specific amount of time for PE in school, and more than half allow exemptions or substitutions, such as marching band, cheerleading and community sports.

Many kids also aren't going to gym class at school every single day. According to the CDC, only about 30 percent of students nationwide attend PE classes five days a week.

Specifically, the report recommends:

All elementary school students should spend an average of 30 minutes each day in PE class.

Middle and high school students should spend an average of 45 minutes each day in PE class.

State and local officials should find ways get children more physical activity in the school environment.

PE isn't the sole solution, though.

The report advocates a "whole-of-school" approach where recess and before-and-after-school activities including sports are made accessible to all students to help achieve the 60-minutes-a-day recommendation for physical activity. It could be as simple as having kids walk or bike to school, or finding ways to add a physical component to math and science class lessons.

The report also cautions against taking away recess as a form of punishment, and it urges schools to give students frequent classroom breaks.

Schools can do this if they make it a priority, said Paul Roetert, CEO of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance.

"We have an obligation to keep kids active," Roetert said in an interview. "We have research to show that physical activity helps kids perform better in school. It helps them focus better in the classroom ... and they behave better in school. So there are all kinds of side benefits."

Kitty Porterfield, spokeswoman for The School Superintendents Association, said nobody is opposed to physical education.

"Everybody would love to see more of it in schools," said Porterfield. "Given the testing and academic pressures for excellence on schools, often physical education slides to the bottom of the barrel."

The idea of putting more of an emphasis on physical education in schools has support in Congress.

Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, plans to introduce the PHYSICAL Act on Thursday. It would recognize health education and physical education as core subjects within elementary and secondary schools. Reps. John Lewis, D-Ga., and Jared Polis, D-Colo., will join Fudge as co-sponsors.

The 37-year-old Leffler, a two-time winner on the NASCAR Nationwide Series who had the nickname "LefTurn" above the driver's side window on his race cars, was pronounced dead Wednesday night shortly after 9 p.m., New Jersey State Police said.

"NASCAR extends its thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathies to the family of Jason Leffler who passed away earlier this evening," NASCAR said in a statement. "For more than a decade, Jason was a fierce competitor in our sport and he will be missed."

Bridgeport Speedway immediately suspended racing for the rest of the night after Leffler's accident at the 0.625-mile, high-banked dirt oval.

After losing his NASCAR ride, Leffler had been racing dirt car events most of this year, including the 410 Sprint Car race Wednesday that promised a $7,000 prize to the winner. On Sunday, Leffler finished last at Pocono in his lone NASCAR Sprint Cup start of the year. He ran just eight laps in a start-and-park ride.

From Long Beach, Calif., Leffler made 423 starts in NASCAR's three national series, but won just the two Nationwide races and one Truck Series event in a career that began in 1999. He also made three IndyCar Series starts, finishing 17th in the 2000 Indianapolis 500.

A statement from Indianapolis Motor Speedway called Leffler "one of the most versatile race drivers in America, showing his talent by competing in the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during his career."

"He also displayed the skills that would help him reach the top levels of the sport by winning four USAC national series titles while winning on tracks throughout the Midwest," the statement said.

Leffler's last full NASCAR season was 2011, when he ran the entire Nationwide schedule for Turner Motorsports. He finished sixth in the standings that season and hadn't had a steady NASCAR ride since.

Although he never made it at the NASCAR Sprint Cup level, Leffler ran almost the entire 2001 season for Chip Ganassi Racing and ran 19 races in 2005 for Joe Gibbs Racing in the car now driven by Denny Hamlin.

Leffler is survived by 5-year-old son Charlie Dean.

"Really sad for Jason Leffler and his family," NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski said on Twitter. "Thinking about his little boy."

Leffler won three consecutive USAC Midget championships from 1997-99 before following mentor Tony Stewart's path into NASCAR. Stewart-Haas Racing, owned by Stewart, tweeted: "Thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of Jason Leffler. A good man; a good racer. Godspeed friend."

Leffler originally signed with Joe Gibbs Racing, the same team Stewart drove for at the time, and ran the 2000 Nationwide season for JGR. He grabbed four top 10s as a rookie, and moved to Cup the next year with Ganassi in a deal that lasted only one season.

IndyCar driver Justin Wilson tweeted: "Another reminder of how this sport we love can be so cruel. Thoughts with his family." Wilson included the hashtag "LEFturn."

NASCAR driver Clint Bowyer also included the hashtag "LEFturn" in a tweet, saying: "So sad to hear about Jason Leffler. Was a wheel man and a fun fun person to be around."

Many drivers also mentioned Charlie Dean in their tweets. A single father, Leffler was devoted to his son and his Instagram account was full of photos of the two spending time together, including many at race tracks.

"Praying for all of Jason Leffler family, especially his little guy Charlie," tweeted IndyCar driver Ed Carpenter.

A little over two weeks ago, 22-year-old driver Josh Burton died of injuries sustained in a crash at Bloomington Speedway in Indiana. In late May at a dirt track in Nevada, two drivers were killed in a race. In March in California, two people were killed when a car careened off a dirt track and crashed on pit road.

Sprint car races can be more dangerous for drivers and spectators because the safety measures taken by series aren't at the same level. Many facilities lack the SAFER barriers that are standard in NASCAR and IndyCar, and the cars aren't always adequately protected.

Thanks for the inspiration @ & @ - I'll take it from here...

The references don't stop there. To commemorate her Twitter debut, Hillary (or, well, her staffers), decorated Clinton's Twitter profile with  that started the meme as her avatar, in which she's seen typing on a Blackberry, while wearing sunglasses, aboard a Boeing C-17 Globemaster enroute to Tripoli. Oh, and her bio is pretty awesome, too: "Wife, mom, lawyer, women & kids advocate, FLOAR, FLOTUS, US Senator, SecState, author, dog owner, hair icon, pantsuit aficionado, glass ceiling cracker, TBD..." The profile popped up, tweetless, this morning, when "pantsuit aficionado" read "pantsuit fashionista." Clinton's social-media team, which has not yet responded to a request for comment, is clearly working overtime.

RELATED:

But for as self-aware and social media-friendly as Clinton's Twitter debut may seem, her appearance on the platform was oddly delayed.observed in May, Clinton's team of advisors never pushed her to develop a social media presence during the 2008 campaign, leading to awkward questions about the potential strategy (and technological capabilities) of one in 2016. President Obama, of course,  on Facebook and Twitter to push their candidate's message and, eventually, ensure voter turnout on Election Day in both 2008 and 2012. In other words, this isn't just about Twitter jokes; it's about developing a solid social media platform for Clinton's future in politics now that she's done "not being a politician" at Foggy Bottom — and, in the meantime, for the Clinton Foundation, for which her husband .

PARIS (Reuters) - Star of songs, sketches and the silver screen for over a hundred years, the Eiffel Tower is now taking the lead role in a musical composition which will see the landmark speak for itself.

The structure is an instrument for a piece to be entitled "Tower music" - a project conceived by U.S. composer Joseph Bertolozzi.

With latex mallets, drumsticks and even a large log wrapped in lambs wool in his box of tricks, Bertolozzi moves all over the 324-metre tower, hitting its surfaces with varying intensity and recording the sounds produced.

The idea is to weave them together, creating chords and melodies over a percussion base.

Bertolozzi's team have collected since May 27 nearly 2,000 samples from the iron structure's railings, panels and girders.

The 54 year-old who lives in New York, told Reuters on Friday that the idea came from his wife.

"My wife was mimicking the way I play my percussion with my arms flailing and everything. She was near a poster of the Eiffel Tower, took a swing at it and she went 'Bong!'," he said.

Inspired to make music with the monument, Bertolozzi had to overcome practical difficulties, notably his lack of French and the fact he had few contacts in Paris.

He first decided to start small with a composition for New York state's Mid-Hudson suspension bridge. The resulting "Bridge Music" spawned a CD which reached number 18 on the Billboard Classical Crossover Music Chart in 2009.

For the organist and choirmaster whose day job sees him perform at weddings and bar mitzvahs, the tower is an instrument just like any other.

"A guitarist knows the character of each string, one string is wound with metal, another one is maybe gut string, they're thicker, they're thinner, they know how they respond. So when I look at the tower, now more than before, I know how the thing will respond as an instrument," he said.

He says that he has a tendency to bash out rhythms on household objects, citing dinner glasses, doorknobs and dishes as regular targets.

The team have spent nearly two weeks weaving in and out of the tens of thousands of tourists who climb the Eiffel Tower every day.

Most are bemused by Bertolozzi and his entourage of sound technicians and producers, but he had some support on Friday with one pair of visitors improvising a rap to the beat he drummed out on one of the structure's many staircases.

When the work is finished in nine months, Bertolozzi says he dreams of coming back to perform it live at the Eiffel Tower to celebrate its 125th birthday in 2014.

Organisers said the show would require over a hundred musicians with microphones installed all over the iron structure, relaying sounds to the public below.

The tower's managers are still to be convinced, citing possible security concerns.

(Editing by Paul Casciato)